The Children of the Wolf (1)
The political marriage between Felicia Marinelli and me had turned the Rufus Carlton Hotel into complete chaos.
“No, their stations don’t even match in the first place.”
“What stations?”
“Felicia is the boss’s daughter, and our young lady is now the boss. Big brother is already the boss’s husband—if he becomes the husband of another boss’s daughter as well…”
I could roughly understand what Giovanni was getting at.
“Setting that aside, the important thing is that this proposal came from the Marinelli Family.”
But Carso changed the subject.
“What do you mean?” Elena asked, her discomfort still plain on her face.
“It means they’re the only one among the five families with whom we have room to cooperate. The others are highly likely to have been involved in the Godfather’s assassination.”
“Isn’t it possible the Marinellis cooperated as well?”
“If they did, it would be incredibly stupid. They aren’t the kind of fools who wouldn’t consider the consequences.”
When Armo raised the question, Carso dismissed it easily.
“So?” Elena pressed. “Are you saying you support this proposal, Carso?”
“No. Personally, I don’t support it either. But it’s necessary.”
The situation was different from when my father had taken control of this city. The greatest motive and justification for Elena and me was revenge for our father, and the targets were the five families. Unlike how Father had used their infighting to subdue them, we might have to face all of them at once. In a situation like this, having one family not only stay out of it but actually become our ally was significant.
“……”
Elena’s expression shifted after listening to Carso. The discomfort remained, but she clearly saw the logic in his words. After all, Elena wasn’t stupid, nor was she bad at reading situations.
“Wait a moment. We should ask the person in question—Luke. Luke?”
“…I’m in favor.”
“What?!”
“Like Carso said, pulling the Marinellis to our side this time is a good move. It would greatly reduce the threat from the south port.”
Sarina looked utterly horrified at my answer. Elena’s expression grew even worse. Still, the advantages were clear. Our expansion would be limited to the west and north—where the Academy was—but it was good not to have to worry about the south.
“Elena, there’s one more thing that benefits us.”
“…What is it?”
Elena, who had been weighing the organization’s poor state against her personal feelings, asked me.
“Sarina, you know the situation on their side well.”
Instead of explaining it myself, I had Sarina do it. Since she was fiercely opposed, having her explain the benefits of accepting the proposal herself would carry more weight than if I did it. From Elena’s perspective, hearing it from someone else would probably be received better.
“First, Boss Vito Marinelli is a complete wreck, addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, women, and drugs.”
“I know that much. They say he’s completely soaked in Blue Eyes.”
The drug Elena mentioned—Blue Eyes. It was infamous for turning addicts’ pupils blue, but it was something our side didn’t handle.
“It was Rita Carmen’s doing.”
Just as Giovanni said, it was her who had gotten Vito Marinelli hooked on the stuff. Whether it had been intentional from the start or she had simply delivered the finishing blow after things had already gone that far, I didn’t know.
“Sarina, continue.”
“Yes. Because of that, his children are running the family in his place. The eldest son, Manfredi, handles security within the family’s territory and any matters that require force. The eldest daughter, Felicia, takes care of external affairs and business operations.”
The other children had their own roles, but those two were the important ones.
“If we accept this proposal… Felicia will have to stay by big brother’s side and won’t be able to remain with her family.”
The moment Sarina finished, Carso added a crucial point, emphasizing that this part needed to be clear.
“Ah, and one more thing. Vito Marinelli’s condition isn’t as bad as we thought.”
“……”
It wasn’t nonsense. For a junkie, he wasn’t in critical shape. In other words, even without Felicia, the negative impact on them might not be as great as we imagined.
When I deliberately brought this up, Elena fixed her gaze on me. I simply wanted to tell her the truth, and that’s what I did. But it seemed my attitude was making it harder for her to decide.
Until Elena reached her own conclusion, the others continued offering various opinions. Since the general direction had been set, we needed to extract maximum efficiency. Various conditions were added, and they began to be divided into those that must be kept and those that didn’t have to be.
I waited long enough so it wouldn’t seem like I was pressuring Elena. Only then did I speak.
“Elena, so what do you want to do?”
“Fine. Let’s do it that way.”
“……”
Sarina’s expression after hearing Elena’s answer was terrible. Of course, Elena and Giovanni didn’t look happy either, but it wasn’t to Sarina’s degree.
Later that evening, Elena and I gathered in the same bedroom again.
“Elena.”
“……”
She had decided on the political marriage between me and Felicia, and Carso had personally delivered our reply. No answer had come back from the Marinelli Family yet, but since it was their proposal first, the chance of rejection seemed low.
However, while Elena understood it in her head, her heart clearly wasn’t on board. In simple terms, she was sulking.
“Elena, are you going to keep acting like this?”
“……”
Instead of answering, she turned off the lit stand lamp and turned her body away entirely. She wasn’t exactly angry at me, but she wouldn’t tell me what she was thinking either. I figured trying to talk more would only worsen her mood, so I gave up.
All the lights in the room went out, and there was no noise to disturb our sleep. But Elena, who had fallen asleep faster than me, began tossing and turning noticeably. Enough to disturb my sleep.
“…Father.”
Seeing her twist violently while urgently calling for her father, it seemed she was suffering from memories of the time when Father had passed.
Click—!
I turned the extinguished stand lamp back on and pulled Elena into my arms.
“……”
Then I gently stroked her thick black hair, the same as Father’s. There was no need to say she woke up. Once she was in my arms and I touched her hair, she didn’t show it outwardly, but the way she tried not to let me see her face… it was obvious.
*
The next day.
It seemed Elena and Sarina weren’t the only ones opposing this proposal. On the Marinelli Family’s side, all of Vito’s children except the person directly involved—Felicia—were apparently against it as well.
But the family boss and head of the household, Vito Marinelli, did not back down. He probably had no idea that his eldest daughter secretly wished to marry me. He was simply trying not to turn his eldest daughter’s noble willingness to sacrifice for her family into a wasted effort.
“Wait, what is this? My daughter must be able to return to her family whenever she wants. Otherwise, this proposal is off.”
Just as the wolves and I were trying to gain as much as possible from this proposal, he was trying to minimize what he would lose.
For now, we decided to follow the compromise Carso had suggested. Felicia could return to her family whenever she wanted, but she must spend at least four days a week with her husband—me.
“…I just want to get out of this stupid argument already.”
“I agree.”
Elena and Sarina hated it every time this process repeated.
“Elena.”
“……”
Of course, whenever I called her name and tried to persuade her, Elena would listen and eventually give in.
Carso and I focused on the political marriage with the Marinelli Family, while Giovanni prepared for the possibility that the marriage alliance would succeed. The minor forces existing between our Fellini Family—stuck in the eastern port—and the Marinelli Family in the southeast of the city needed to be cleaned up all at once.
On the Marinelli side, Manfredi was making similar moves to Giovanni. He probably didn’t welcome the situation personally either, but he couldn’t go against his father and older sister.
Armo continued focusing on Elena’s protection, and the former consigliere accepted our proposal. He had agreed to let his son become the new consigliere.
Meanwhile, Vincent Lumini and Richard Vannella—the two caporegimes who had abandoned their territories and joined us—were given the docks in the northern port.
While the situation continued in a way that might be meaningful to some and meaningless to others, truly infuriating news reached me.
I didn’t know who was behind it, but a rumor had begun to spread throughout the city of Hevilly. It claimed that the little wolf, Luke Fellini, had been involved in the death of the wolf, Vito Fellini.
And some newspaper had even run an article with that nonsense.
The fact that other media outlets weren’t reacting suggested they were either wary of how I would respond or had other reasons.
Naturally, when Elena saw the article, she carefully called me over and showed me the newspaper.
“Luke.”
“……”
I checked the content of the newspaper she held out. Every single line was complete garbage. The factual errors alone were too many to count. At the time, I had been receiving goods—massive quantities of drugs—coming into the port from another organization across the sea. It could be proven easily with testimony from the person in charge who had been with me, the other wolves, and even the dockworkers who had been at the scene.
But Elena said there was no need for that.
“I trust you, but others won’t.”
I was curious how the other five families would react. After all, I was both the child of the wolf and the benefactor who had avenged their grudges. Or, if they were the real culprits, they might have burst out laughing when they saw the article.
For better or worse, the general public of Hevilly showed either no interest or a negative reaction to the article. The mayor’s death had become the more pressing issue, and in the western part of the city, Eddie Sanchez was causing problems every single day. To them, my parents—precious to Elena and me—were nothing more than the deceased.
However, it seemed those with feet in the underworld found the rumor credible. After all, there had clearly been a change in our family’s succession structure. The original successor—me—had been pushed aside, and the biological child, Elena, had taken the position.
But they would also find it strange. If I had killed my father, why hadn’t I become the boss and instead yielded the position to Elena?
Well, those who believed such nonsense might assume I had turned Elena into a puppet and was holding the real power anyway.
On the other hand, there were those who began to move belatedly.
The city’s police.
With both the current mayor and the mafia godfather dead, they had no choice but to investigate. A special task force was formed to handle the case, and they began by narrowing down the most likely suspects.
And they removed me from the list of suspects.
I couldn’t have known that fact, but if I had, I would have shown the scene to Elena without hesitation.